


Transformation

by snobbleweb



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Angst, Bromance, Dragon Merlin, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Poison, Transformation, Wounded Merlin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-15
Updated: 2018-11-06
Packaged: 2019-06-11 00:46:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15303729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snobbleweb/pseuds/snobbleweb
Summary: Wounded and left for dead, Merlin notices some strange changes happening to him.





	1. Strange Changes

**Author's Note:**

> Heyyy! I keep started fanfictions I can't stop! But here's some dragon merlin and random angst and lowkey gayness between Arthur and Merlin... But honestly no more than the show lol

Merlin faded into consciousness, feeling the harsh ground beneath him. He let out a groan of discomfort and opened his eyes. It was a struggle, his vision was dark and blurry. Slowly he lifted himself up, and managed to clear his vision, but he still felt disoriented. He looked down at his middle and saw the arrow still lodged in his gut. He bit his lip. Where were the bandits? He thought and looked around quickly. He was in the forest, but no one in sight. He sighed a bit in relief. Maybe they left him for dead. That brought on a terrifying thought. He had a feeling the arrow was dipped in poison, because the wound didn’t feel quite normal. He lifted the cloth from his skin and saw the discolored skin around the wound. It was definitely poisoned, he couldn’t tell with what though. Merlin had to find help, or he knew he would probably end up dead in this forest. He leaned up against a nearby tree and lifted himself as much as the pain would allow. He took a deep breath and started calling out to Kilgarah. He finished his call and slowly started looking around, trying to figure out where he was. Using his future vision was hard in the condition he was in. Everytime he tried, the path ahead was just dark and blurry.

Arthur put his hand to his forehead, the images flashing in his mind yet again. He wished he could have at least been able to bring a body back to Gaius. It felt unfair, that someone who had no armor or fighting skills was forced to come along with them on every mission. But after all the times he had come out fine, Arthur stopped worrying. But now he had to live with the fact that his, dare he say it, friend, was left in the hands of bandits, an arrow in his gut. He squeezed the bridge of his nose and groaned.   
“Sire?” He opened his eyes and looked up, seeing George standing over his desk.   
“Oh. George.” He said, absentmindedly shuffling through the papers on his desk.   
“Sire, you have training with the knights in an hour and a council meeting with your father directly after th-”   
“Alright.” Arthur said, getting up and walking past George, grabbing the shirt in his arms. George followed him quietly, helping him get dressed.  
“Sire, Gaius also wants to see you,” Arthur looked up, stopping for a moment. He sighed softly and quickly got ready.  
“Thank you George, I’ll go see him before training,” George didn’t respond, only stood there quietly. Arthur sighed again, deeply missing Merlin’s banter. He headed out of his chambers and towards the Physicians chambers without another word to his new manservant.

Merlin looked up at the sky, started to worry why Kilgarah had still not come to him. It never took this long for him to appear. He realized he would have to take care of this himself or else he wouldn’t last much longer. He thought back to some herbs for poison, and started looking for anything that might help. Before he found anything he spotted a stream. He stumbled down to his knees by the stream and stuck his hands in. After taking a long drink, he wiped his mouth. He felt something on his face as he wiped, and he froze. He lifted his hand and felt around at the strange texture on part of his face. It was covered in hard and smooth pieces. He tried seeing his reflection in the water, but the water was moving too fast. He quickly used his powers to slow down time, and looked again. Before he could even get a good look at it he noticed his eyes. They were glowing. But not like they usually do when he uses his powers, but they were slitted. He looked closer at them, confused, and then looked at the other strange thing, and he saw scales.

“Gaius?” Arthur said as he entered the Physicians chambers, but saw no one there. He slowly ventured further in, looking around at mess of papers scattered on the desks. He quickly looked up as he heard a door open, and saw Gaius emerge from Merlin’s old room. They made eye contact for a long second and Gaius kept walking down the stairs, holding a pile of books in his arms.  
“Hello Gaius,” Arthur said softly.  
“Sire,” He replied, and set down the books. “I asked you here to talk about Merlin,” Arthur breathed deep and sat down.  
“Go on, Gaius,”  
“I need to tell his mother the news, now that there’s really no doubt about what happened to him,” Gaius said, his voice sullen. Arthur folded his hands and nodded slowly.  
“So with your permission, I’d like to ride to Ealdor,” Arthur looked up.  
“Gaius… I know that this is important news, but we can’t have you leave camelot… You’re the best and… only physician we have.” Gaius looked down.  
“I understand sire, but I don’t know who I would send… This news is…” Arthur knew what he was trying to say. This news shouldn’t come from a stranger, it needed to come from someone close to Merlin.  
“I could go,” Arthur looked down a bit. “She doesn’t really know me… But Merlin was rather important to me as well, so it might be okay…” His voice was quiet and questioning. Gaius smiled as much as he could.  
“Arthur, that would mean a lot,” Gaius put a hand on Arthur’s shoulders. “And I’m sure Hunith will appreciate you doing this for him,” Arthur nodded and got up.   
“Alright, I’ll head out tomorrow, if you have anything you want me to bring to her you can have till then to get it all together.” Arthur headed for the door.  
“Thank you Arthur,” Gaius said as he walked out.

Merlin was trying not to panic. The scales were spreading, and he still didn’t know why they were there. He wondered if it had something to do with the poison, but he didn’t feel like those bandits would have that powerful of potion. And he felt that if they were connected, the scales should have started at the wound. Kilgarah still hadn’t shown up, and Merlin had tried calling for him two more times, with no results. With some herbs sloppily applied to his wound and the end of the arrow snapped off to make it easier to maneuver, he started walking in the direction he hoped was camelot, stumbling as his vision kept getting blurrier. Eventually he started feeling too weak to stay standing, and collapsed on the ground, blacking out.

Arthur would by lying if he said he wasn’t curious to see what items Gaius had gathered for him to bring to Ealdor. But it felt wrong to pry, so he kept it concealed in his saddle bag as he rode to Ealdor. As he came close to where the bandits had taken Merlin he kept secretly hoping Merlin would just stumble in front of him, but with the situation his friend was in it didn’t seem likely.

Merlin woke in a dark, warm place, his head pounding. He reached for his wound to find it bandaged, no arrow sticking out. He quickly got up, scrambling to find out how he had gotten here and who had taken him. He saw the vague form of a woman standing by the fire, who turned as he got up.  
“Oh! You’re awake, play stay calm, I’m not going to hurt you,” Merlin’s jaw dropped as he saw the last person he expected to see at that moment, his mother.


	2. Misunderstanding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes I did rewrite the first chapter!! I liked this better to give a bit more suspense to the reveal, I hope you like :>

Merlin tried to say something, but all that came out was a hoarse dragon sound. Hunith hesitantly approached.  
“My husband was a dragon lord, so I’m not an enemy, I just wanted to help you with that nasty wound,” Merlin didn’t know how to tell her who he was, so he just nodded softly. She smiled and sat down on a chair next to him.  
“A young boy alerted me about you lying unconscious in the woods, and a friend of mine helped get you here, but I trust them, so no one should be coming after you,” Merlin lied back down and nodded again in acknowledgement.  
“You must not be able to talk yet, and that plus your size you must be pretty young, you’re probably like the age of my son,” She smiled. Merlin gave a little dragon chuckle, knowing just how accurate she was. 

Arthur came into view of the village, and gave a hefty sigh as he strode in. Everyone he passed by looked up in shock, staring in disbelief. He politely asked around for where Hunith lived. When he found it, he slid off his horse and held the bag holding the stuff Gaius gave him for a long moment. This was going to be hard.

Hunith talked to dragon Merlin about her husband, and ironically, her son. But she was interrupted by the man who helped her bring Merlin into town burst through the back door.  
“Hunith, Arthur is riding into town! He must be after that dragon, he’s asking around for you,”  
“How did he know?” Hunith shot up.  
“I don’t know!” Hunith quickly started ushering the dragon.  
“Quick! You must hide, we won’t let him hurt you again,” Merlin resisted, making desperate dragon noises, trying to explain.  
“Why are you resisting? Please!” Merlin shook his head solemnly and let her hide him. Merlin watched helplessly as he heard a soft knock on the door.

Arthur’s heart was beating fast, but he kept his face stern and serious. He gave a couple timid knocks on the wooden door, and there was some shuffling inside before the woman answered. She looked a little out of breath but he brushed it off and politely asked if he could come inside.  
“Of course!” Arthur smiled and slid in. Arthur looked around and thought to himself about Merlin’s childhood. It just made it harder for him to tell her the news.  
“Hunith, I came here about Merlin,” Hunith and Merlin were both taken aback.  
“What’s wrong? Did something happen?” Hunith’s worry for the dragon was drowned out by the concern for her son. Arthur sat down and set the back on the table between them.  
“He was fatally shot by bandits, he died protecting me, I’m so sorry,” Arthur bowed his head. Hunith froze, staring at Arthur in a haze. She eventually snapped out of it and collapsed into a chair across the table from Arthur. There was a long moment of silence.  
“Gaius sent this for me, presumably things that belonged to him,” Hunith looked up, eyes slowly filling up with tears as she took the bag. Without looking inside she pulled it close to her chest and curled up against it. Arthur couldn’t make himself look at her, and focused on a floorboard. After some stifled sobbing coming from Hunith she slowly got up.  
“Thank you for coming all this way to tell me… I’m glad he had a friend like you,” Arthur got up to meet her and finally looked in her eyes. He nodded.  
“If you need anything else, just send word to Camelot, I’m honored to help the mother of such a loyal ser- friend,” With that, Arthur headed out the door, letting out a pained gasp when the door closed behind him.  
Merlin couldn’t cry in this form, but if he was able, there would have been a waterfall in Hunith’s closet. He wanted to tell them he was alive, but as he was, Hunith didn’t understand and Arthur would just kill him without hesitation.  
Hunith walked over to her closet and let Merlin out, not looking at him. Merlin whimpered and quickly nuzzled against her hair. Hunith smiled weakly before sitting down on the floor by the fire. Merlin joined her, shyly leaning against her as she sobbed through the night.


	3. Click

Arthur somehow felt worse on his way home to Camelot, after telling Hunith it felt… final. But the more he thought about it, the more he needed to know. Know that Merlin was really dead. As he got up after camping out in the woods, he headed to where he last saw Merlin.

Merlin slowly unwrapped himself from Hunith, still sleeping on the floor. As gently as he could he picked her up on his back and laid her down in her bed. With a solemn glance at his sleeping mom, he padded out the backdoor. The morning was still rather dark, but he was still careful when he snuck out of town. He had to use magic to cause a distraction, but he managed to get out. But after that he stopped. What was he supposed to do now? How could he get anyone to believe who he was? How could he fulfill his destiny like this? Merlin felt like he was drowning in his thoughts, wandering through the forest, without a destination or a purpose. He was shaken from his thoughts at the sound of a horse. He carefully ventured forward, spying for the source, only to see Arthur packing up his camp from the night. He ducked away, but continued watching. Merlin didn’t know why he was bothering watching the prince, knowing he could never see him again without him trying to lop his head off. But suddenly Arthur headed off, away from Camelot. Where is he going? Merlin tailed him a ways behind as the prince rode further on away from his kingdom.

Arthur slowed as he came close, scanning the ground for any sign or clue. It only took about ten minutes before he spotted blood. Arthur dismounted and followed the trail until he found an arrowhead, making his heart skip a beat. Merlin must have snapped this off to heal himself, seeing the remnants of herb mixing by the river. Merlin watched dishearteningly, knowing Arthur would not find him, just shredded clothes. Sure enough Arthur continued to follow the trail only to find scattered remnants of Merlin’s clothes, as well as some discarded scales. Arthur’s hope was fading, but the sight perplexed him. What had attacked him but leave nothing behind but his clothes? If he was mauled like the clothes suggest, there would be a lot more blood. 

Merlin realized if Arthur could put it together, he might just be able to realize if Merlin confronted him. Thinking this over, Merlin jumped down from his perch and slowly walked towards the prince.

Arthur heard a rustle of leaves and quickly turned, pulling out his sword.   
“Merlin?” He said, his voice hopeful. The hope disappeared as he saw the creature walking towards him. He lifted his sword and glared at the dragon. It was a rather small dragon, but still a dragon. Arthur didn’t hesitate to attack, slashing at the dragon and getting quite a gash on its face. The dragon yowled and stumbled back, then looked up, eyes wide and pleading. Arthur stared down the dragon with a deathly look, ready to strike again. The dragon let out a soft yowl and backed up, almost trying to look as not threatening as possible.   
“What did you do to Merlin you disgusting beast” Arthur said and slashed his sword again. This time Merlin dodged it, and grabbed his sword with his mouth. Merlin winced as the sword cut him a bit as he did, but he threw the sword away. Arthur backed up, but still ready to fight, glancing at where his sword was thrown. Merlin bowed his head as if bowing. Arthur looked at it strangely, trying to understand why it was acting this way. The dragon looked up suddenly, eyes shining. It got on its hind legs, making Arthur stumble backwards in surprise. The dragon pointed at it’s middle with its claw and Arthur saw the bandage around its middle then gestured to the dropped arrowhead. Merlin then waited a sec and grunted, seeing Arthur was still confused. Merlin slapped his head with its claw the way Arthur does to him, knocking him over. Something in Arthur clicked and he looked up at the dragon with a questioning look. The dragon gave a laughing sort of noise, and Arthur scrambled away.  
“Merlin…?” He said, making deep contact with the dragon. It’s deep blue eyes started seeming familiar. The dragon nodded enthusiastically. Arthur got up and looked at him up and down.  
“What the hell happened to you?” He started hesitantly walking up to Merlin. Merlin gave the dragon equivalent of a shrug before wincing and growling, lowering his head.   
“What’s wrong?” Arthur said, getting worried. Merlin vaguely gestured to the wound in his stomach, and Arthur stabilized him as he stumbled.  
“What do I do? Do we take you back to Gaius?! I don’t really say that happening without some problems,” Arthur said, laughing nervously. Merlin glared at him and Arthur smiled weakly, trying his best to stay calm. He still couldn’t help but feel relieved that Merlin was at least alive, even if he had turned into a dragon.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you like so far!


End file.
